"Shh—"
Li Cuirou gave Zhang Yingying a thumbs-up.
Zhang Yingying was in the middle of a sweet daydream about marrying Qin Yuhe and becoming a wealthy socialite. Interrupted so suddenly, she looked displeased.
"Mom, what are you shushing me for?"
Li Cuirou pointed toward the end of the corridor.
Zhang Yingying looked over and saw a woman wearing the latest red dress from Chanel.
She was tall and gracefully slender, yet perfectly full and voluptuous in all the right places.
Her aura was aloof, noble, and elegant.
In daily life, very few people wore red. It wasn't that it didn't look good, but rather that few could actually pull it off.
Such a high-energy and flamboyant color not only demanded a certain skin tone, height, and figure, but the hardest part was wearing it with the right charm and allure.
An ordinary person could easily end up looking like a country bumpkin.
Zhang Yingying's closet was filled with clothes of every color, except red.
Her skin wasn't fair enough. A large area of red around her face would only make her complexion look duller and her skin tone worse.
At the same time, her features were rather plain, lacking visual impact and tension. If she wore a red dress, she would be completely overpowered by the color; at first glance, people would only see the red, not her.
For someone like Zhang Yingying, who loved to grandstand and wished to be the center of attention at every occasion, how could she not like red?
She loved it to death, but whenever she wore red, she looked sallow and emaciated, as if she were gravely ill. She simply couldn't pull it off.
At this moment, looking at the woman in the Chanel haute couture red dress at the end of the corridor, her eyes were filled with awe and envy.
The woman stood against the light, her entire body enveloped in a bright halo, her exquisite figure cast into a perfectly curved silhouette.
Although she couldn't see her face clearly, Zhang Yingying recognized her at a glance—it was that woman!
The noble daughter from some mysterious, elite family!
The confidence, anticipation, and longing in Zhang Yingying's heart were pierced right through, leaving a gaping, hollow void.
Zhang Yingying and Li Cuirou stared at the woman at the end of the corridor, frozen in place.
The crisp click-clack of high heels approached from a distance.
Song Xinya walked past the mother and daughter, her gaze fixed straight ahead, her delicate and sharp chin held high, not sparing them a single glance.
Her stunningly beautiful back stood on the escalator, and as it moved downward, she slowly disappeared from Zhang Yingying and Li Cuirou's sight.
Zhang Yingying asked uneasily, "She's not going to the Qin family's banquet too, is she?"
Li Cuirou replied, "I heard the Qin family only sent invitations to the upper echelons of Beijing high society."
Zhang Yingying said, "She's so beautiful and her aura is so noble. She looks exactly like a socialite from high society."
Li Cuirou said, "She isn't."
"She isn't?!" Zhang Yingying felt as if she had caught a lifeline. Her eyes lit up as she asked urgently, "Mom, why do you say that?"
Li Cuirou explained, "I already had your father, Song Xuanli, investigate this woman thoroughly."
Zhang Yingying pressed eagerly, "Who exactly is she?"
Li Cuirou said, "Your father took her photo and asked around all the elite families in the Beijing circle, and they all said she wasn't their daughter. So, your father and I are certain she must be from somewhere else. She might be from the Shanghai circle, the Hong Kong circle, or an overseas wealthy family."
Zhang Yingying breathed a sigh of relief. "So that's who she is."
Li Cuirou nodded. "Yes, the Qin family only invited the Beijing elite to this banquet, so this woman won't be invited."
Zhang Yingying felt completely reassured and smiled. "As long as she doesn't attend this banquet, I'll have the confidence to capture Qin Yuhe's attention."
Li Cuirou said, "Your father's and my information won't be wrong. Just put your heart at ease."
Zhang Yingying replied, "Then I can peacefully prepare for the Qin family's evening banquet. Before going tomorrow, I'll visit the beauty salon for a full-body acid peel to brighten my skin."
Li Cuirou added, "You also need to hurry up with the hymen repair. A virgin represents pure, untouched originality, and men all love virgins."
"Qin Yuhe is a man; he will definitely love it too."
Zhang Yingying said, "The process at regular top-tier hospitals takes too long and requires waiting. I'll go ask the plastic surgery hospital; maybe they can do it right away."
Li Cuirou said, "Mom will go with you to ask."
...
After picking up her custom evening gown, Song Xinya arrived at Tiantianquan's workplace, the largest plastic surgery hospital in Beijing.
Plastic surgery is a service industry, so there were more clients on weekends than on weekdays.
Knowing Tiantianquan was busy, Song Xinya waited in her office.
After a while, Tiantianquan pushed the door open and walked in. "My beloved concubine, sorry to keep you waiting."
Song Xinya replied, "Your Majesty, are you done with your work?"
Tiantianquan said, "I did two double eyelid surgeries this afternoon, and I also did a free neutering surgery for a colleague's pet dog."
Song Xinya raised an eyebrow. "You do animal surgeries too?"
Tiantianquan waved a hand. "It's just a quick snip. If my colleague is brave enough to let me do it, I'm brave enough to cut."
Tiantianquan chattered on endlessly: "Neutering a dog is way easier than doing double eyelids on a human. I've done it for many colleagues' dogs before. They all call me the ball-busting expert."
"Oh right, I haven't thrown away the two little balls I removed yet. Want to see?"
Song Xinya rolled her eyes. "Am I crazy? Why would I want to see that?"
Tiantianquan smirked. "Oh, you really don't need to. You have a husband."
Song Xinya was speechless. "..."
"What were you and Chen Siyan doing in the bathroom at the bar yesterday?"
Tiantianquan nearly spat out her water. "You don't suspect him and me of starting World War III in a bar bathroom, do you?"
Song Xinya said, "I don't just suspect that; I suspect your combat friendship with him runs very deep."
Tiantianquan sighed. "You married women really have no filter."
Song Xinya retorted, "Stop pretending to be innocent in front of me. I know you too well. You're a literal little mango—yellow on the outside, and dirty yellow on the inside."
Tiantianquan said, "But seriously, yesterday in the bar bathroom, Chen Siyan and I really didn't do anything."
Song Xinya asked, "That pure?"
Tiantianquan nodded vigorously. "Mhm, mhm."
Song Xinya said, "Doesn't sound like you."
Tiantianquan asked, "Is that really my image in your heart?"
Song Xinya replied, "You're a natural-born Minion. If you went to act in Despicable Me, you wouldn't even need makeup or paint. Just stand there, and you're a big, bold, dirty yellow."
Tiantianquan scoffed, "I just talk a big game every day. Unlike you, who goes into real live-fire combat with your husband every single night."
Song Xinya asked, "Tiantianquan, has any client ever complained about your lack of a filter?"
Tiantianquan smiled proudly. "They all praise my magical hands and say all sorts of sweet nothings to flatter me, wanting me to help them become more beautiful."
Song Xinya placed an invitation on the desk. "Don't forget to attend the Qin family's banquet tomorrow."
Tiantianquan gasped dramatically. "No way! A lowly peasant like me actually gets to attend the banquet of the number one wealthy family in Beijing, the Qin family? I'm going to float away."
Song Xinya said, "Hurry up and call your parents to tell them you're not a failure."
Tiantianquan replied, "For such a glorious occasion, I must light some candles and brag to my whole family for a good while."
Song Xinya walked toward the exit of the plastic surgery hospital, with Tiantianquan seeing her out.
In the lobby, the two of them ran head-on into Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying.
Naturally, Song Xinya was not going to take the initiative to acknowledge them; she looked right through them as if they were thin air.
Tiantianquan also ignored them completely.
As the two walked out the main doors, Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying turned their heads to stare at their retreating backs.
Li Cuirou said, "Tiantianquan used to always hang around Song Xinya. Why the change in companions? Why is she always with this woman now?"
Zhang Yingying replied, "She is climbing the social ladder. This woman is a wealthy aristocratic lady. If you could make friends with someone of such high status, who would still want to hang out with that fatty, Song Xinya?"
Li Cuirou and Zhang Yingying watched Song Xinya leave.
When Tiantianquan returned to the lobby after seeing Song Xinya to her car, Zhang Yingying walked over with a face full of smiles. "Quanquan, who is that woman in the red dress?"
Tiantianquan looked at Zhang Yingying's fake smile. "Right now, your smile looks like a wrinkled chrysanthemum."
Zhang Yingying could not maintain the smile on her face; it stiffened and collapsed.
Li Cuirou asked in a roundabout way, "That woman is so beautiful, so she had work done too, huh."
Tiantianquan retorted, "She is all-natural from head to toe. Unlike you mother and daughter, who are counterfeit and shoddy goods from top to bottom. If you do not touch up your faces for three days, you would look as ugly as the Black Bear Demon from Journey to the West."
How could Tiantianquan not know what this mother and daughter were scheming? She asked, "You want to find out from me who that woman is, do you not?"
Zhang Yingying and Li Cuirou looked at her eagerly.
"Her..." Tiantianquan paused and said, "She is someone way out of your league."
After saying that, she walked away with a cool, carefree air.
Keeping them in suspense, she did not reveal the answer.
As for the truth, let this mother and daughter scratch their hearts out in anxiety over it.
She guaranteed that at tomorrow's banquet, they would be in for a massive shock!
